Textile fabric



March 24, 1931. J SHORROCK 1,798,111

TEXTILE FABRIC Filed Oct. 19, 1929 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 24, 1931 TES JAMES 3?. SHOE-ROCK, OF HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO B. F. PERKINS & SON, INC, 03 HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS TEXTILE FABRIC Application filed October 19, 1929.

This invention relates to improvements in textile manufacture and is directed particularly to improvements in the process of manufacturing woven silk crepe fabric and the product thereof.

lVoven silk crepe fabric of the type to which the invention relates has a wavy, crinkled or uneven surface as distinguished from the smooth flat and even surface of ordinary silk fabrics. The invention is directed to this silk crepe fabric having special characteristics and to facilitate a clear understanding of the novel features of the invention. The prior art method of making the fabric will first be described in a brief wav.

The crepe fabric is woven on a box loom which has a single box on one side and a shiftable double box on the other between which the shuttles are thrown, two shuttles being used. One shuttle passes from one compartment of the double box through the shed of the warp to the sin le box and back again to the double box and then the other shuttle passes from the double boX through the shed to the single box and is then returned. That is, the shuttles alternate so that first one and then the other passes back and forth through the shed of warp. One shuttle carries silk yarn which is twisted in one direction and the other carries silk yarn which is twisted in an opposite direction. These yarns which are different in that one is twisted righthanded and the other left-handed are somewhat wavy or uneven and more or less kinky as distinguished from straight yarns so that as they are thus alternately woven into the fabric their wavy, crinkly appearance produces a fabric which has the crepe appearance, that is, it has a wavy, crinkly or crepe surface.

According to the novel features of this invention I produce a woven silk crepe fabric without the use of these weft yarns of different characteristics and obviate the necessity of using a loom of the type referred to. To that end the novel features of the invention are accomplished by the employment of a single weft or filling element which by reason of its special and novel characteristics Serial No. 401,017.

produces the desired crepe effect, Thereby economy in manufacture is effected and pro duction is efliciently increased in an economical manner. Y

The novel features of the invention will now be described in the form at present preferred and reference will be made to the accompanying drawing which is a plan view of a section of fabric embodying the novel features of the invention.

In producing the crepe fabric of the invention, 1' preferably employ the usual warp elements of silk yarn which may be of any size desired and there may be as many as are required for the particular width of fabric it is desired to produce.

F or interweaving with these silk warp elements according to my invention I employ a single weft or filling element 4 which consists of a silk yarn structure 6 having a natural wavy or crinkly appearance as distinguished from the smooth straight appearance of the warp yarn. V

This weft yarn is formed by winding about an untwisted silk core yarn 8 other silk yarns 10. For the purpose of the invention, the core yarn during the winding is held taut or under tension and the silk yarns wound thereon are wound in opposite directions and under considerable tension. The windings are preferably made with a sufficient number of turns so that the core yarn is completely covered. The tension employed is such that in the winding, the core yarn is made wavy or crinkly as distinguished from straight so that this weft yarn has a decidedly wavy, crinkly or non-straight appearance. In this way the weft yarn is relatively hard as compared with the warp yarn and being crinkly, wavy pr non-straight it may be termed crepe yarn.

As the crepe yarn having this natural wavy, crinkly appearance is woven with the warp elements, they are displaced thereby in one way and another so that there is imparted to the fabric the wavy, crinkly or crepe effect desired.

By means of the crepe yarn it is not necessary to employ the two oppositely twisted weft elements of the prior art, but instead the desired crepe effect is obtained by means of a single yarn which is adapted to produce the effect by reason of its novel form.

It is preferable in order to produce fabric with the desired crepe efiect to wind the yarns about the core yarn with from forty to sixty turns per inch. Not only is the core yarn completely covered, but with such a large number of turns applied thereto and under tension the outer yarns become more or less embedded in the surface of the core yarn so that the core is distorted or made wavy and crinkly for the particular effect it will produce in co-operation with the Warp yarn. Naturally where the weft element is wavy or kinky the warp elements will follow the contour thereof and co-operate therewith to provide the desired crepe effect.

As will be seen the weft yarn which is in V reality a crepe yarn is capable of imparting to the fabric the crepe appearance desired. By the means thereof it is not necessary to employ the pair .of yarns of the prior art which have different characteristics wherefore it is possible to produce fabric more efficiently and at a less cost.

Having described the invention what I now desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. As a new article-0f manufacture, a

woven fabric having a crepe appearance comprising in combination, a plurality of warp yarns having interwoven therewith a plurality of exactly similar weft yarns which include a central core having a covering twisted therearound so that it is distorted to provide a wavy exterior with which the warp yarns conform to produce the crepe effect.

2. The method of producing a fabric characterized by a crepe appearance which consists in, interweaving exactly similar weft yarns having wavy surfaces formed by windingva covering about a core with warp yarns so that the warp yarns conform to the weft yarns to provide the wavy crepe appearance.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

JAMES P. SHORROCK, 

